Who wouldn't want to see the Tarheel National Championship seniors play ball one last time. Jay Renfrow says, "We're big time Carolina fans." Renfrow bought 6 tickets to see the UNC's senior barnstorming tour, at Barton Gym in Wilson earlier this month. His children were excited to see the big game and despite having tickets in hand, Renfrow says after waiting more than an hour in line they couldn't get into the game. He adds, "They made an announcement, I'm sorry the gym is full we have no other seating capacity."
The next morning, Renfrow says he called the host of the event, Wilson Community Christian School and left a message about a refund. Not hearing back he turned to Troubleshooter Diane Wilson. Gerald Garner, principal and athletics director at Wilson's Community Christian School organized the event. He says, "We printed up 2,500 tickets for the event." The problem, while those tickets sold out a week before the game, someone printed and sold hundreds of counterfeit tickets on game day. He adds, "Once we filled the gym, it appeared outwardly a conservative 400, 500, 600 people still had tickets and were denied admission. Garner says, "It's just very regrettable that a criminal element in economic times took advantage of the system."
Garner showed us the difference between the real tickets and the counterfeit. It's a difference never noticed until it was too late. He adds, "The saddest part of all is people who had legit tickets had small children who gone to sporting good stores and got special little jersey's and were denied admission, and we're awful sorry for that." Garner says they've already refunded more than 3 thousand dollars worth of tickets and will continue to do so for those who still have tickets, like the Renfrow family. A refund Jay Renfrow is happy for. He says, "We just wanted to know the truth and we want to thank everyone for helping us out."
Meanwhile, Garner wants justice, "I just hope and pray that we can catch the person who took a very special night away from awful lot of young kids that it would have meant the world to and see big time basketball." Garner says they are offering a reward to anyone who has information who would lead to the arrest of the person or people who were involved in these counterfeit tickets. As for the refunds, anyone who still holds unused tickets just need to go Wilson Community Christian School during school hours. Garner says while they have tried to call everyone back who left a message, they were out of school for a few days that could have caused the delay.
